Skiing Discussion Thread v.1

Whaleback is open again? No wayyy. That's where I learned to snowboard before I switched to skiing.

Moving to Denver at the end of the summer. Cannot wait to shred some powwww.

Yeah they opened back up years ago and are now very freestyle orientated. They own the Zero Gravity skatepark (in lebanon I think?) and have a lot of summer camps and hold other random events during the summer like monster truck racing haha

^exactly. I lived an exit away but moved out to utah... there defiantly stepping it up look for their summer setup jams super fun everyone should make it out. zero gravity is in white river junction right next to lebanon

1 Thomas Long
2 Nordic Mountain, Mt. Morris Wi
3 1.8meter Rossignols from the 80's are my primary set of sticks but i still have my first set of skis (1.5 rossies), whatever poles are lying around the garage when i decide to go, samsonite boots.
4 I've been to Cascade Mtn. Wi, and Copper Mountain in Colorado. Oh Copper mountain was AMAZING. I ski recreationally for something to do outside in the winter. I've gone shirtless down a run on Copper... would do it again in a heartbeat, but it was friggin' COLD for a long time afterwards. Wouldn't recommend doing it to anyone who has circulation problems. Umm, i've tried going backwards on my skis (not twin tips) and made it down a few hills that way, but not on the moguls on Copper.

I was actually at Killington for the dew tour. That **** was awesome. Expensive though.

I spend most of my time at Mtn. Creek in Jersey. Planning some trips to Stratton this year too hopefully.

Stratton is great, a few too many flats though. I used to live in upstate NY so I went there often. Now I'm closer to NYC and need to explore closer mountains. I'm thinking maybe something in the Hudson Valley region like Windham. Ever been there?

Pretty sure I went to there when I was much smaller, so I can't really remember it. Otherwise, if you live in the hudson valley and don't plan on skiing on the weekends (unless you like lines) go to Mountain Creek during the week. Almost no body there except for locals, and school is in session during the week. (But use your head when determining how crowded it will be on holidays, etc.

2 years ago my dad said the weather was gonna be a heavy snowfall so we packed everything as fast as possible and booked it to Creek. We got there finally after some really bad road conditions but they cancelled school the next day 2 days or something and no one else could get to the mountain because the roads sucked

There are two mountains. Weekends, usually the lines can be 5-20 minutes for the MAIN lifts. South has all the rails and jumps and attractions like that. North is more for beginners, and to access the South mountain you need to take a safety test to get a pass (which is free, given you pass.) But, alas, for some reason 80/90 year old people still ski at South and get hit all the time, as well as 80/90 year old people who bring kids (7-12 years old.) who get hit which is a DAMN PAIN IN THE ***. Please don't bring yourself to a mountain where you're more likely to get hit then complain. I don't know why the staff would allow them over, either. All they do is pretend to ski up to a jump to take it, then they go off the side over a 1" height lol. It clogs up the mountain tbh. Otherwise, their snow making capabilities as well as grooming is far beyond exceptional.

Granite is for more advanced skiers, but it isn't much. If you can carve well and fast and aren't scared to get LOW while your carve then yuo'll have a blast getting to the granite lift.

Note, the SOJOURN lift between South/North was closed, because it was really old and because the chairs were falling off the lift lol.

I watched a couple fall off actually, **** was scary.

They were supposed to build a trail between the two mountains to connect them, because the only way to get from South to North was to take a bus or drive (Which is a pain)

But as is to be expected, the economy has probably halted this trail lol. They were cutting down trees to make the trail, NOT sure if they finished.

You CAN get to South from North 3 ways;
Bus (They come like every 10 minutes or something, can't remember.)
Driving (I ski, no way in hell I'm taking off my boots to drive lol)
Trail. There's a connecting trail that goes ONE WAY between North and South. On the map, it's named "SOUTHERN SOJOURN." and runs under where the old lift used to be.

They haven't released a new trail map to my knowledge, which is why that lift is still there on the map, btw.

tl;dr: Creek is a good place to go if you're close or you have a really gas efficient car. It has many levels of ability present, but of course nothing matches Vermont/going out West. Mountain is well maintained, they're working on a lot of projects too. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking. I would suggest hitting the mountain on a week day if you can get a nice cheap pass.http://www.mountaincreek.com/tickets/ticket-rates/
Their prices are average of what you'll probably get most places. I try to go during the week with friends because there are far less people. Weekends are good if you just want to hang with friends and you don't care if you sit on the lift line for 30 minutes lol

I know the whole mountain off the top of my head, almost all by trail names which is obviously convenient .

Conclusion:Snow Making: 10/10 - I haven't seen anything betterStaff: 9/10 - Mostly your average college kid from what I've seen. They do their job to what is expected, and is more than reasonable. They fix problems and hazards quickly and efficiently, as well as many waiters and waitresses who are friendly, etc.Pro Shop(s): They carry a large variety of items, but obviosuly at marked up prices. But still, it's a nice place to look at things. The only time I've ever bought something from the pro-shop(s) were because I left my gloves at home and it was FREEZING, so I couldn't pull a no-glove day. That costed me like $50.00 for average okay gloves that I lost I think Food: Food is very good, even the fast food type things they serve. The restaurants are obviously pricey too, but the food is good. I usually bring my own food and eat it because it's cheaper.Parking: They have a lot of parking. Some times you need to fight for a good spot, though. Lifts: They have quite a few lifts, but depending on the amount of people, they don't always have them all open. 1 gondola if I recall correctly, and mostly quad lifts a couple triples I think and a couple doubles.

Hah, thanks.
I'm 23. How about run times? I was looking at mountain verticals and mountains in the hudson valley region have significantly higher verticals than Mountain Creek is around 1000 foot vertical, while Windham and other HV region mountains are 1500 feet+ (and Stratton is about 2K feet, Killington 3K feet).

I'm ~145lbs 5'10 and I'm skiing on 181 Salomon "Twenty Twelves", they're so much fun. Perfectly balanced ski with rockered tips, great for jumps and rails but they're also really stable for free riding and are wide enough for east coast pow days. (I think a 90-something underfoot) I have the bindings set one notch back from center mounted. I would recommend demo-ing a few pairs if you can, although demos are more common towards the spring. Find something like the twenty twelves that aren't necessarily a 100% park ski (avoid Ninthward, Surface, and basically any other mid level ski companies) and you'll have tons of fun

I tried to give you a picture of the mapquest route you'd likely be taking (But to New York City, as you didn't specify a place in particular) but it didn't work.

To be honest, you're making me want to cry. I'd love to ski in Vermont whenever, but all I have is Creek and you want the opposite hahaha :p

Also, I'm fairly good at stuff. Last season killed me for getting more into park but I'm getting there (no snow, etc). I can do the basic 180 pretty easily with regular all mountain skis (given the backs didn't plant and make me eat snow badly, which has happened )

I can get nice rotation when I'm not weighed down, but the skis are a little heavy, combined with the bindings/my boots, which made it hard for a whole 360* rotation, but I could pull a 270*. I started trying to grind on rails by starting on boxes, but I kept screwing up my weight distribution. If anyone here could help me out with that, I'd appreciate it.